Throwback - Jean Cameron
Today, it’s commonplace to see postwomen, and indeed women of all professions, wearing trousers. However, there was a time when it was deemed inappropriate and the topic of whether women should be allowed to wear them a controversial one.
Jean Cameron (pictured on the right with her leg up) was one of many women who swelled the ranks of the General Post Office (GPO) during the Second World War, just as they had done during the first. Alongside the expansion in women’s employment opportunities came tensions about what they should wear - and it was Jean who led the charge.
Postwomen performed a physically demanding job, and a skirt was not always practical. Jean’s delivery route in the Scottish Highlands was no different. She found that the skirt that all female GPO staff were expected to wear was deeply impractical for the round that herself and other postwomen had to complete:
‘I go 15 miles a day with the mail,’ she had said. ‘I use a cycle and where there are no roads, I have to walk. There are dykes to climb, rocks to be got over, and very often, I have to cross the River Eske. The mail you see, even in this lonely glen, has to go through.’
When Jean wrote to the Head Office of the GPO demanding that all female employees should be given a choice between wearing a skirt or trousers, her demands were met. Jean became something of a celebrity, and the trousers became known as ‘Camerons’ in honour of their pioneer. Two films were made in 1944, featuring Jean on her postal route, one of which can be seen in The Postal Museum’s temporary exhibition Dressed to Deliver.
Jean was excited to be a trendsetter and explained: ‘What I was doing now thousands of posties would be doing later. But I was the first, and I shouldn’t be a woman if I wasn’t pleased to be the first to start a fashion.’
More than 500 pairs of postwomen’s trousers were ordered in just two months. By November 1943, 14,000 pairs of Camerons had been issued.
If you’re interested in learning more about Jean Cameron’s inspiring story, you can visit Dressed to Deliver at the Postal Museum, open until September 2024. Admission is just £1 for all current Royal Mail staff.
You can hear from more inspiring women both our colleagues and external guest speakers, at the IWD event this Friday – click here to find out more.
